


Self Sacrifice

by arpolo



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst, First Kiss, Getting Together, Happy Ending, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Reckless Keith (Voltron), Sort Of, and sad, kind of, lance gets mad
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-20
Updated: 2019-04-20
Packaged: 2020-01-22 20:58:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,450
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18535372
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/arpolo/pseuds/arpolo
Summary: When Keith pulls yet another dangerous stunt for 'the sake of the mission' Lance is done.





	Self Sacrifice

**Author's Note:**

> So like, you can probably figure it out but they were out on this stealth mission and Pidge was going in to get this important map and Hunk and Keith were covering the entrance for her and Lance was above, but then Pidge got caught in the like passage ways she was using to get to the room and managed to fight them off and then retreat but Keith decided to go in after her to get the map anyway even though now the enemy was alerted to their plan sort of so yeah. That makes Lance mad.
> 
> Also, I imagine that Lance is the kind of boi who like, can't stay still when he's feeling to much of one emotion, especially anger, so yeah that's what that's about. It's something that can happen from anxiety and idk it just felt right for him.

Lance got out of his lion, seething, wanting nothing more than to punch Keith Kogane in the face. 

 

Even for Keith this was stupid. It was and impulsive and selfish vain and Lance is so done with Keith’s shit. He thought they had gotten past this, Keith's dumb, self-sacrificing instincts, but here he was again throwing himself in harm's way for for  _ no reason _ . Maybe Lance could understand if this was instincts in the heat of battle or some completely unexpected threat, but they had had a  _ plan _ for goodness sake. And sure, things had gotten a bit rocky for a minute there but Pidge had been fine and she’d picked up and kept going. Kept going according to their pre-established, well thought out, weeks in the making plan before Keith decided that he had a better idea. He was just acting to act and Lance was just done.

 

But apparently, no one else was. 

 

Apparently, they were all proud of Keith for ‘thinking on his feet’ and thought he was ‘brave’. 

 

Apparently, it didn’t matter that he could have died. 

 

Sure, he didn’t. But he could have.

 

And sure, if it was just this once it wouldn't matter; but it wasn’t just this once.

 

This was the  _ third time _ Keith had pulled some crap like this.  _ Third.  _ And yeah, Lance hadn’t been so angry the first two times but to be fair they weren’t nearly as close as the are now. The first time was just a few weeks into this whole adventure and they were still ‘rivals’. Lance didn’t want to show that he’d cared so he’d just said his mandatory ‘nice going’ and that was that. The second time they weren’t exactly friends but they had started to get along, they were teammates, and he’ll admit he  _ was  _ a little angry, even if he didn’t act on it. He was planning on chewing him out a little then letting him off the hook but when he stepped out of his lion and saw Keith in one piece he just hugged him tightly, just thankful he was alive, but not this time.

 

This time, oh he was in for it because now Lance wasn’t just his rival, or his teammate. He was his… well, friend wasn’t meaningful enough but, it was closer than… what? Boyfriend? Never mind that was a question for another time. He cared about him, and as easy going as Lance was he didn’t take any shit when it came to the people he cared about.

 

When Lance stepped out of his lion he could already hear the noise of the others congratulating Keith on the ‘win’ and chatting excitedly with each other. Lance can’t really blame them for the excitement; it was exciting. This was a big mission and they had pulled it off, normally Lance would be excited now too, but there was something a little more important he needed to do before he could celebrate. 

 

As Lance approached the group they grew quiet, his serious expression and crossed arms showing he was not in the mood for celebrations. Before even acknowledging Keith he stepped up to Pidge, who started to open her mouth to speak but closed it when he threw his arms around her. She hugged him back and they stayed that way for a minute. The he pulled back and nodded at her, she smiled at him. He took another step and made eye contact with Hunk, silently asking if he was okay. He nodded and gave a small smile to indicated that he was and Lance kept moving. He stopped in front of Keith, who was looking at best confused at his stiff approach, and cleared his throat somewhat awkwardly. 

 

“Are you okay?” He asked in a flat voice.

 

“I’m fine, just some bruising.” He answered slowly, glancing around at the others. “Are you? What’s wrong?” Lance didn’t answer, he just pressed his lips together and looked over Keith.

 

Of course, it was hard to get an accurate damage report with his suit on but he seemed fine from what Lance could tell. His hair was messy and sweaty, but there wasn’t any visible cuts or bruising that might have meant a concussion so Lance nodded, satisfied. 

 

“Okay.” He said slowly, not in answer Keith’s question but as if he was thinking out loud. He turned to face the group. “I’m going to my room,” Then back to Keith and all but ordered him; “When you’re finished with debriefing come talk to me.” then he turned on his heel and calmly walked out of the room.

 

No one said anything or tried to stop him, probably because they knew he wouldn't listen. After spending more than two years living and fighting together they all knew each other pretty well,  which means they knew when Lance was mad. Not, ‘Keith beat him in hand-to-hand’ or ‘Pidge at the last not-snickers’ mad, but really, truly angry. He would be quiet and calm and act like practically emotionless until he either blew up or broke down.

 

The fact that he was so angry also spoke to the severity of the matter because Lance just didn’t get angry easily. Only when it was something or someone he really, truly cared about, like the time they found out Shiro hadn’t been eating or when Pidge passed out on the training deck from lack of sleep. 

 

It was about an hour before Keith came to knock on his door. When he opened it Keith looked kind of annoyed himself, but that might have just been his face. He was in his normal clothes again, minus his belt and jacket, and his hair was pulled back in a ponytail at the base of his neck, damp from just showering. Lance had also changed and showered, but his hair was blow dried because he wasn’t a  _ heathen _ , but that was a yet another discussion for another day. Keith stepped inside and they stood in silence for a minute or so before he spoke. 

 

“So, what did you need to talk to me about?” Keith asked awkwardly. His arms were hanging at his sides and he stared at Lance blankly. Lance studied his face to see if he knew at all why Lance was so upset but he looked only slightly confused if anything. 

 

“I’m angry with you.” he said like it was obvious, unconsciously clenching his fists by his side. Keith looked a little more confused.

 

“Why?”

 

“Because you-” Lance took a deep breath, trying not to yell. “You’re just so dumb sometimes and it’s like, it’s like you don’t even think!” Lance couldn’t keep his hands still at his sides, his voice full of emotion. Keith scoffed.

 

“What are you talking about, Lance?  _ I _ don’t think? Have you ever listened to you talk to like, any female ever?” 

 

“Oh my God you don’t even get, you don’t even know what I’m mad about, do you?” Lance's voice was getting progressively higher and breathless with frustration and anger, his hands fidgeting around; wringing in front of him, coming to his sides, pulling on his hair, clenching in and out of fists. 

 

Keith, who was starting to get actually concerned by Lance’s erratic behavior but also increasingly confused, stepped forward to put his hand on Lance’s shoulder but hesitated.

 

“Lance, I don’t know what you’re talking about, just tell me why you’re upset.” He said calmly. Lance laughed humorlessly and threw his hands into the air.

 

“Oh, ‘upset’? Yeah, I’m ‘upset’ because every time you see some opportunity to just throw yourself into a dangerous situation for, what seems like any stupid reason you just fucking go for it without giving a second thought to, ‘yeah maybe killing myself  _ isn’t  _ the best idea’ like the rest of us just don’t even matter and there’s no other option when really, you just can’t fucking be patient.”

 

“Lance!” Keith exclaimed, now looking hurt and frustrated instead of just confused. “I had my reasons, okay? And if you would just calm down for a second and look at the facts I think you’d understand that I did what was best.” 

 

“Oh the facts? Okay Keith why don’t you tell me that facts. What were your fucking reasons.”

 

Keith took a deep breath, trying to stay calm because he knew at least one of them needed to keep a level head and it apparently was not going to be Lance.

 

“Look, me going instead of Pidge was the smarter choice, and I had been saying that from the beginning. I’m older, more experienced, and I’ve had more training for this specific type of thing. Once I saw that she was having trouble I went with my instincts and took her place. Maybe she would still have been able to do it but we don’t know that. She was hurt, you know. She might not have been quick enough with her injuries and I didn’t want to risk that.”

 

“Yeah, true she was a little bruised but so were you, you were helping Hunk keep guards from the entrance. Speaking of, you left Hunk completely alone, he had no backup once you left. If you wanted to protect your teammates maybe start with the one you’ve been assigned?”

 

“Hunk was not completely alone he had you, you were covering him.”

 

“On sniper! Not hand to hand or even close range, it’s completely different and you know it. I wasn’t down there.”   
  


“No, but Hunk’s a lot stronger than Pidge, I thought he would be better off fending for himself with you converting him then Pidge would with no one. Besides, she wasn’t even going for it anymore, she was retreating.”   
  


“Exactly! Retreating back to you and Hunk where you were supposed to be waiting so we could all get out of there, that was the plan; if Pidge is compromised we retreat we weren’t supposed to risk her. When you went in after her you changed the plan and put her in danger.”

 

“I think you’re missing the point Lance, I got the data! I completed the mission and if I didn't interfere we would have failed.”   
  


“No! No you are missing the point; you changed the plan. You went on your own instinct and not what that all of us have been working on together for days. We all agreed on what we were going to do and when the time came you messed it up and went against it. Yeah that worked out fine now but what about next time, huh? You could have killed one of us! You could have killed yourself!” Lance was practically frantic at this point, no longer just his hands moving but his arms waving wildly, pacing sligthly in front of Keith, who was also getting more agitated.

 

“But I didn’t Lance, and I don’t understand why you’re so upset. I’m not going to apologize for following my instincts; it worked. We got the map and we’re all fine so what is your problem?” 

 

“My problem is that you could have died!” 

 

“Well I didn’t.” He spat out.

 

“But  _ what if you had _ Keith, please, I’m begging you to understand me. This isn’t about this one mission this is about the two times that you’ve already done this, and the who knows how many times that you’ll do this again if no one says anything. It’s not like you haven’t had natural consequences because you have, you’ve gotten hurt every time you pulled a stunt like this. You hurt your leg last time, and you still limp sometimes, don’t try to deny it, and you had a total breakdown after the first time but you’re still pulling this shit.”

 

“Pulling what, first time doing what? Risking my life? Lance, we do that every day!”   
  


“No; putting yourself in a position where you either succeed or die. You have done that three times and I can’t- I can’t fucking deal with it Keith you have to stop.”

 

“Why, Lance? Why do I  _ have _ to?” They were both shouting at this point.   
  


“Because you could  _ die _ !”

 

“We could all die, every day Lance, why is this any different!” 

 

“You’re Voltron’s leader, we need you-”

 

“You also have Shiro, he’s a great leader  _ and _ he can pilot Black-”

 

“So just because you think you have a replacement means you can throw your life away?” Lance stopped in front of him, only inches away, arms in the air. He looked close to tears. Keith glared up at him, forced to tilt his head meet his eyes because their height difference was more noticeable when he was this close. 

 

“I’m not throwing it away, I do these things for a reason, it’s not like I don’t think, Lance I just think differently from you. I don’t understand why you’re so mad at me for something we all do every day!”

 

“I don’t understand how you don’t get it, why do you have to be so.. Fuck.” Suddenly Lance grabbed Keith’s face with both his hands and kissed him, hard. Keith gasped, which turned into a moan as Lance slipped his tongue into his mouth. His hands came up to rest on Lance’s chest and he leaned forward into the kiss. Lance practically growled into Keith’s mouth and tightened his hold on his face before letting his hands slide down to Keith’s hips. Keith broke the kiss after a minute and Lance leaned his forehead down so they were touching. They stared into each others eyes, panting for a good minute until Lance spoke.

 

“I can’t lose you, Keith. I can’t.” His arms went down to wrap around Keith’s waist and Keith closed his eyes so he couldn’t see the tears pooling in Lance’s. “I’m not… I don’t know what to call this; what I feel for you… but it’s too important to me to lose. You’re too important to me. And when you go and do things like this I mean, yeah, the mission succeeded and everything but if the cost of success is you?” His voice broke, “Please God let us fail.”

 

Keith chuckled dryly and leaned away from Lance, sliding his hands down to intertwine with Lance’s. 

 

“Okay.” He said after a minute. “Okay, I get it. I’m sorry.” Lance sighed and leaned forward touch their foreheads together again. 

 

“It’s okay.” He said seriously. Then his usual smirk returned; “You can make it up to me later.” He winked and Keith groaned, halfheartedly shoving him away.

 

“So is this…are we… boyfriends?” Lance asked cautiously. Keith smiled, wrapping his arms around Lance’s neck and nodding.

 

“Yeah,” He said with a smile, then pecked Lance again on the lips. “Boyfriends.” 

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you liked it :)


End file.
